[Still with Dr. Keith]
"Both colonies [1714 and 1717] left Germanna before the close of 1725 and their former division was kept fairly distinct in this change of homes, though parts of Wayman, Fishback, and Hoffman families (of the 1714 colony) seem to have accompanied the 1717 colony to the Robinson River."
Members of these Reformed families, and of other Reformed families, did move to the Robinson River Valley, but not at the same time that the 1717 colony went to the Robinson River Valley. John Hoffman was among the first to go, and this was a few years after the 1717 colony had moved. The Waymans and the Fishbacks were still later . Other Reformed people came, in part because they had friends and relatives there. For example, Henry Huffman, brother to the 1714 John Huffman, moved directly to the Robinson River in 1743. Then, a little later, John Steinseifer came. Henry Huffman and John Steinseifer both has married women of the surname Schuster, though they were not sisters.
"There is no evidence that any of the 1717 colony failed to go to the Robinson River."
As I have commented, Christopher Zimmerman had land southeast of Mt. Pony. He did not go to the Robinson River; however, his son, John, did. Probably the reason was that John was the son of Christopher's first wife, whereas the other children were by the second wife. It sounds as if there was stepmother trouble.
"Now as regards to the so-called third colony I find no substantial evidence of its existence."
Amen . The sooner the "third colony" is forgotten, the better our history will be. Germans did arrive after the 2nd Colony, but they were spread out over several years, and it took several decades before forty more families came after the 1714 and 1717 colonies. There is just a small grain of truth here in that more people did come, but it is a misuse of the word 'colony' to apply it to the situation. (In other words, the 1st Colony families all came together; the 2nd Colony families all came together; the so-called (erroneously) "3rd Colony" families came in dribs and drabs, not together ! A family here, a couple of familes there, from the end of the second decade of the century, up to the late 1740's, and even up to the early 1750's.)
"The constituency of the 1714 and 1717 colonies can be fairly well determined . . ."
This is especially true for the 1714 colony. For the 1717 colony, there are about 120 candidates for the 80 slots. Or, stated slightly differently, there is an embarrassment of riches. Some of these will have to be assigned to the 'slightly later comers'. Cerny and Zimmerman wanted to increase the size of the 1717 colony to include more people, but this seems to contradict what Spotswood and the Germans themselves said.
(24 Sep 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.